Elevator



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W. B. NIOKERSON.

' ELEVATOR.

No. 394,875. Patented Dee. 18, 1888.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. E. NIOKERSON.

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UNITE STATES PATENT EETcE.

IVIILIAM E. NICKERSON, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELEVATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,87 5, dated December 18, 1888.

Application filed December 27, 1887. Serial No. 259,183. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. NIcKER- soN, of Cambridge, in' the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to connect to the counteracting ropes of the elevator a regulating device that will control and regulate the velocity of the descent of the elevatorcarriage, but will not interpose any resistance to the action of the counterbalance-weight when the elevator-carriage is ascending, nor in any way add to the work of the engine in its act of drawing up the elevator-carriage. I attain this object by the mechanism shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of my regulating device. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line X Y of Fig. 1, and also showing parts of the elevatorcarriage and of the counterweight. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in elevation of the end of the drum B of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an elevation showing an elevator with my deviceattached.

A, Figs. 1 and r, represents the base, upon which I mount my regulating mechanism. A A are pillarposts for supporting the housings A A", in which the journal H, Fig. 3, of the drum B is mounted. At each end of the journal H, I attach a crank-disk, E. Each of these crank-disks E has a cranknn, E, respectively connected to piston-rods I). Each piston-rod has a piston (not shown) which works in cylinder Each of the cylinders (l is arranged to oscillate on trunnions C, and are filled with some tluidoil, for instance through which the pistons, being loosely fitted or perforated, can move but slowly; and as these pistons are connected by the rods D and pins E to the crank-disk E on the shaft II it will be seen that the rapidity of the mo-' tion of the shaft H is governed by the movement of the pistons in the cylinders C.

The drum B has upon its surface a spiral groove from one end to the other, as indicated. At one end of this spiral groove I attach, as shown at M, Fig. 1, a rope, M, which is attached to the elevator carriage R, as shown in Figs. 2 and I. At the other end of the groove on the drum B, Fig. l, at the point P, a rope, P, is attached, the other end of the said rope P being attached to the counterweight P The rope M, although attached to the carriage, is not a hoistingrope, the hoisting-rope being represented by F, Fig. 4, which leads to the hoisting device, (l10l3Sl1OWl1,) which passes over the pulley F.

The two ropes P and M wind from opposite sides of the drum B, and alternately occupy the same parts of the spiral groovethat is, when the elevator is down, the rope M would be nearly unwound from the drum, while the counteracting rope P would occupy almost the whole of the spiral groove on the drum, as indicated in Fig. 1; but when the elevator is up the rope M would occupy nearly the whole of the spiral groove, and the counteracting rope P would be almost entirely unwound.

The drum B is not rigidly attached to the journal H, but is so connected by means of the gripping devices that when the drum moves in one directionthat is, in the direction in which it moves when the elevator is descendingthe eccentric-pawls L so act as to prevent the drum B from rotating independently of the journal H, and as the journal H is attached to the regulating device already described it (the drum) cannot move any faster than the regulating device attached to the shaft H will allow it to; but when the drum moves in the other directionthat is, in the direction in which it is caused to move by the action of the counter-weight as the elevator rises-then the gripping device does not act, and the drum B is free to move independently of the shaft I[that is, indepemlently of the regulating apparatus.

I will now describe the gripping mechanism which I have adopted for illustration in this case.

K, Figs. 2 and 3, represents a disk which is keyed to the shaft II, and close to the end of the drum 13. Upon the end of the drum B, I place eccei'itric-pawls L L, which turn upon pins L L, and are each provided with a spring, S. These sprin are arranged to draw the eccentric-pawls in the direction indicated by the arrow L so that as the drum. B rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow B then the spring S will coaetwith the friction between the disk K and the eccentric L, so as to bring the two surfaces hard together, and thus check any independent motion between the drum l and the disk Kthat is, between the drum 1' the shaft 1i, and the regulating device; but when the drum B is rotated in the direction opposite that indicated by the IO arrow B, then the tendency of the friction between the disk K and the eccentric-pawls L will be counteracted by the spring S, so that the ecceiitric-pawls T. will not bind again st the disk K; hence the drum l3 free to revolve independently of the regulating device.

It will be observed that my device is entirel detached from the elcvator-carriage and the hoisting-rope, and that it governs the descent of the elevator-carriage through the rope 2o )1, and that my device in no manner inter o device adapted to allow said drum to revolve l l'ercs with the construction of the carriage or in any wayadds to its weight. The abovedeseribed grip 'iing device may be applied to each. end of the drum B, if desired.

1 claim- 1. In an elcvator-regulatin g device, the combination of a drum, having a safety-rope attached at one end to the elevator-earriage and at the other to a eounter-weight, and a grip freely in one direction, and to connect said drum. when revolving in the other to a speedregulating device, with a speed-regulating d evice, substantially as and for the purpose set forth 2. In an elevator-regulating device, the combination of the drum 1. and rope )I with the journal II, about which the drum B is free to move in one direction only, grip device consisting of disk K, eccentrics L I. L L, speedregu'latiug-device consisting of crank-pin E, piston-rial T), cylinder the rope I, and the counter-weight, all (ji iierating together substai'itially as ('lescribei'l, and for the purpose set forth.

$3. In an elevator, the combination of the drum B and rope M with the journal ll, about which the drum B is free to rotate in one direction only, grip device consisting of disk K, eccentrics L L L L, speed-regu'lating device consisting 0t crank-pin E, piston-rod I), cylinder rope I, counter-weight P and elevator-carriage R, all operating together substantially as described, and .for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM E. NICKERSON.

Wi tn esses:

FRANK G. PARKER, )IATTHEW M. BLUN'r. 

